No.^^o1^" ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE FOLKTALES — ^KILPATRICK 427 



The girl became pregnant. A child was born, and then another 

 and another, until there was a heap of babies this highJ^ 



The man became ashamed. He was a red worm, and the babies 

 were not human beings. 



The people left all the young worms in the house, which they set 

 afire. They bm-ned all of them with their mother.^" 



6.— THE INSECT HUSBAND 



A man came and courted a woman. The woman became pregnant. 

 She gave birth to as many babies as an insect has legs. The woman 

 was ashamed, and told her husband to go away. 



So he left, and they never saw each other again.'^ 



TALES OF HUNTING AND FISHING 

 1.— THE HEADLESS BEAR 



A man^^ went hunting. When he came to a mountain, he saw a 

 bear upon a steep incline just above him. 



He shot at the bear and hit it, for it came rolling down the mountain- 

 side. As it came nearer, he decided it was but a cub because it looked 

 so small. When it arrived where he stood, it stopped. Then he saw 

 that it was only the head of the bear. 



The man saw the bear running on down the slope of the mountain. 

 Then it tiu-ned and ran in the opposite direction. The man saw that 

 pursuing an animal that kept changing directions was useless. He 

 carried the head home. 



2.— THE INDESTRUCTIBLE BEAR 



Hunters once killed a bear in a cave. It had a slice of fat on its 

 sides that [12-15 cm.] thick. The next year they went to the same 

 cave and found that the bear was there again. Again they killed it, 

 and found that the slice of fat was just a trifle thinner. And so on, 

 for 7 years in succession, they returned to the same cave and killed 

 that bear, the slice of fat being thinner each time. 



After the seventh year, they returned to the cave, but found it 

 deserted.^^ 



" Olbrechts did not record the height. 



'« A Creek version of this story is found in Swanton (1929, p. 38). 



" The resemblance of this story to the one Immediately preceding it is patent. 



" Olbrechts comments that the name of this hunter was U:sgo:h(a) ('he has dandruff'), and that Morgan 

 Calhoun, who told the story, although he knew the hunter personally, obtained the account from an un- 

 named Individual who also knew IT : sgo : h{a) . 



" Olbrechts' note: "The informant [Morgan Calhoun] has not the slightest doubt but this was the same 

 bear, coming back to life again six consecutive times. The tale was told me as 'proof that bears come back 

 to life. 



